Introduction
What is up, fellow adventurers? Blaziker is back for yet another rundown of the 2024 animated movies. This time, we are returning to our usual schedule of covering a trio of animated movies, all having presence in one same continent: Europe!
The first movie, They Shot the Piano Player, is an animated documentary by the same team behind the Oscar-nominated Chico and Rita about a New York music reporter travelling to Brazil to investigate the mysterious murder and subsequent disappearance of a Brazilian jazz pianist. I honestly wanted to see this movie the moment I saw the trailer, especially given the animation style of this movie. The question is, is this movie for me?
The second movie, The Peasants, is by the same directing duo behind 2017’s ground-breaking Loving Vincent. Taking place in a Polish village in the early 1900s, a peasant lady in a forced marriage with a man despite her love towards the man’s son must fight for her love and independence, despite pushbacks from many of the village’s residents, even her own family. While I had yet to cover Loving Vincent, I am well aware of how exciting the Polish animation scene is, whether it is animating for top-tier video games or animating for their own animated movies. So, with that in mind, is this Polish soap opera a good one?
The third and final movie is another movie from my 2024 Non-Mainstream and Foreign CG Animated Movies Watchlist, The Brothers Gruff Go to Splash World. Produced by Norway’s Qvisten Animation who has worked on so many “interesting” animated movies for the past two decades, this is a twist on the classic Billy Goats Gruff tale where instead of the goat brothers crossing a bridge with a troll beneath it, the brothers go on a wild ride to a water amusement park, much to the anger of the bridge troll who go on a revenge tour to stop the goats from reaching their destination. Well, it is about time I return to the world of crazy Nordic animated movies, and while is an adaptation of a Norwegian fractured fairy tale, it is nonetheless one of the most bizarre animated movies if I were to judge this movie on the trailer only. Well, is this movie worth recommending?
Well, time to get on to this adventure, so here we go!
They Shot the Piano Player
Key Information
- Directors: Javier Mariscal, Fernando Trubea
- Animation Studio: Fernando Trueba Producciones Cinematográficas, Animanostra and Gao Shan Pictures
- Country of Origin: Spain, France, Peru, The Netherlands, Portugal and United Kingdom
- Rating: PG13
- Release date: 6 October 2023 (in Spain)
Trailer
Story and Characters
This is honestly not the first time I had seen an animated documentary, considering I covered (and loved) Flee when it came to Singapore in 2022 as part of its Oscars screening. However, for this to work, it needs to have a cohesive storyline that viewers can follow through on, and in the case of They Shot the Piano Player, unfortunately, it failed to do that.
One major issue I had with this movie is that while the focus is on the music, the murder and disappearance of a jazz piano player, the story just became too convoluted as there are other side plots that distract viewers from the main topic of this movie, resulting in a lack of focus for the main story about that promising jazz pianist and his music. The story ran around in circles without reaching a satisfying conclusion that rounds up the movie properly, resulting in a story that just felt disappointingly boring.
The characters are also nothing much interesting to add to this already unfocused story, but honestly, Jeff Goldblum was horribly miscast as the reporter investigating the mysterious disappearance of the pianist, even with having one of the most recognisable voices of show-business.
I felt rather disappointed by how sloppy the writing is in this movie. Yes, the writing is at least better than some of the family-friendly animated movie schtick I had covered in the past, but for an animated documentary, having a lack of proper narrative is not it, chief.
Animation
Besides the very problematic writing, I also have major issues on the animation, which is a shame because there were some good elements of the animation that were let down by its style over substance approach.
While the painted style of animation looks nice and charming in certain animation sequences, I just feel that the animation style is too bright and distracting, not to mention looking too boring at times, something that would be unacceptable for hand-drawn style of animation, but here we are regardless. In fact, there were certain character movements that were too slow for this style of animation because it seems the animators could not decide on what frame rate to use in the animation.
Overall, I just felt too disappointed with how mediocre-feeling the animation is despite the different animation style, which would already be a step up from the tired 3D CG animation. Well, concept is one thing, but execution is another, I guess.
Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment
It was about time the community gets a chance to listen to top-quality Brazilian jazz, and I was happy with what the soundtrack provides. There were variations of the same music genre in the various songs throughout the movie, making a lively soundtrack that almost saved this movie for me.
As for my level of enjoyment, I personally do not enjoy this one. Because of the problematic writing and animation, the movie felt like a slog as I went between watching this movie and being put off by how mediocre feeling this movie is, unfortunately.
Overall Thoughts
I have to be very honest, I am honestly disappointed by They Shot the Piano Player, in spite of my higher expectations of this movie.
With a lack of focus and interest in the various storylines behind this animated documentary, slightly uninspired voice acting and an animation style that, which interesting looking, falters with its overall quality and identity, They Shot a Piano Player is very underwhelming for me. While far from being my least favourite animated movie of 2024 so far, for a movie that I had high hopes for, this not delivering for me is such a tremendous shame.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
The Peasants
Key Information
- Directors: DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman
- Animation Studio: BreakThru Productions
- Country of Origin: Poland, Lithuania, Serbia
- Rating: M18
- Release date: 12 April 2024 (in Singapore)
Trailer
Story and Characters
Well, well, compared to the first movie we discussed, The Peasants is without a question a much more intense but emotionally satisfying movie for me.
One of the best parts about The Peasants was that despite its intensity, this movie remains grounded with how much this soap opera about a forced marriage in a Polish village hooked me in. The story does not hide its sheer brutality of women’s inequality and exploitation in the 1900s by charging forward towards the vile human nature that was throughout this near two-hour movie, topics that are still relevant to this day. Speaking of, despite its long runtime, this movie is well paced, allowing the story and emotions to mature towards the ending in one giant crescendo.
Thanks to its near-perfect writing, the characters also bring this story to life as they are very well-developed and full of their personalities that are quite tough to see in some non-mainstream animated movies. Jagna (Kamila Urzedowska) might be one of the most tragic main characters I had seen as her fighting with societal norms in the village despite the forced marriage, even with her family, is just brutal and sometimes unsettling to watch. That said, her story will resonate with some of the audience who had gone through this exploitation, allowing for fruitful discussions about women in society, even today. The other characters, particularly her love Antek (Robert Gulaczyk), are very well-realised with their respective traits that felt very genuine to their characters, allowing for a drama-filled movie where different personalities clash with other characters and conflicts escalate, but in such a controlled manner that the movie did not become too chaotic and distracting.
Honestly, the movie’s writing is just well put with much care and respect towards the story, pacing and characters in the movie. While there were a few nitpicks regarding the movie’s writing, such as a couple of elements that were not well-developed, the writing is nearly perfect for this type of animated movie.
Animation
Given this was from the same directing duo and studio behind Loving Vincent, it is to no one’s surprise that The Peasants follow a similar animation style, utilising oil paintings to rotoscope the various scenes in the movie. This is where the movie takes up a few more notches.
With the sheer brutality and drama in The Peasants, the animation beautifully depicts both the tranquillity of the village and the viciousness of the villagers living in the village, not to mention showcasing the different seasons in the most pristine way possible. The roughness of certain scenes in the movie, especially the more brutal ones, shines thanks to its imperfections in the oil paintings that feel very authentic.
There is a reason I love more of my top-tier non-mainstream animated movies, and that is because of the expression of the animators’ creativity in utilising a wide variety of animation styles, and The Peasants is no exception. Honestly, I had no complaints whatsoever about the overall animation.
Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment
Considering the movie takes place in a Polish village, the soundtrack is full of tracks inspired by classic Polish folk music, and not only are there a wide variety of tracks with different beats, tempos and patterns, but each track invokes a certain mood that complements the movie’s writing. This makes the soundtrack for The Peasants not only one of the most versatile animated movie soundtracks of the year, but also one of the most culturally important.
As for my level of enjoyment, I absolutely love this movie! The strong writing, the unique and beautiful animation and the fantastic animation hooked me into seeing this movie from start to finish, even with how vicious this movie is during the second half. Even if this movie can be hard to watch sometimes, I was very into the drama presented in the movie.
Overall Thoughts
After being disappointed with They Shot the Piano Player, The Peasants restored my faith in non-mainstream animation in the best way possible.
The Peasants is a gripping, brutal yet beautiful animated movie worth seeing at least once. With controlled chaos and fully developed characters that turn an already excellent script into a well-controlled drama from start to finish, the painstakingly crafted animation is one of the most unique and one of the best animation efforts of 2024 so far and the soundtrack is just as great as the writing and the animation.
This is yet another case of why Central and Eastern Europe is becoming a new hit region with animation, because The Peasants is so great that the Polish animation community that saw this movie are very proud of this work. After watching it, I can understand why that is the case.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
The Brothers Gruff Go to Splash World
Key Information
- Directors: Will Ashurst and William John Ashurst
- Animation Studio: Qvisten Animation
- Country of Origin: Norway
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 25 December 2023 (in Norway)
Trailer
Story and Characters
In most foreign CG animated movies I covered, the writing quality is not good enough for theatrical animation studios, even with some of the better ones. However, with The Brothers Gruff Go to Splash World, the writing is mostly excellent.
Talking about the writing, the script went off the rails, but not too much to make it too unhinged for the audience to be put off. There was a level of control in the chaos this movie makes throughout its very short runtime (of only 67 minutes, the shortest animated movie of 2024 so far), but this movie was full of hilarious gags and quirky dialogue that makes this movie one of the most entertaining of the year so far. Even if some gags might not be age appropriate, they are well worth it, especially considering this is another wacky Nordic animated movie you would expect.
While admittedly the story structure felt a bit repetitive, thanks to its surprisingly strong script, this movie does not get boring so fast, and the pacing, which could have been an issue if not controlled well, somehow gets it right, allowing some breathing room when needed. This is controlled chaos in the best way possible for any foreign CG animated movie I covered (take notes, Paws of Fury).
As for the characters, while I am slightly put off by how annoying the Troll is in his scheme to capture and eat up the goats, and I feel the younger goat could have gotten slightly more attention, the characters are honestly entertaining, just like with the writing. In fact, the gags pair so well with the characters that I can also forgive for characterisation issues if you ask me on that part.
Overall, even with its very short runtime, the script in The Brothers Gruff Go to Splash World does not feel rushed or too unhinged, but was more of a controlled chaos in the best way possible.
Animation
If you told me that Qvisten Animation, a studio that utilise 3D CG just like most European animation studios, decide to use stop motion for this movie instead, I would have to believe you, but in reality, this is also a 3D CG animated movie. Oh boy, I almost fell for it!
Given that this movie is based on a Norwegian children’s book of the same name, the adaptation of the style depicted in this movie takes it up a notch, mostly because the animators at Qvisten had loads of fun animating this. This movie is very well-animated, but the animation quality alone not enough to describe why the animation is so well done. No, it is the animation style that sold it for me!
Even when comparing to other animated movies by Qvisten, the animation style has this unique stop-motion feel that not only flows super well but has high-quality rendering to sell this already high-quality animation in this movie. You can tell each element was animated with so much flair because, frankly, the style sells this movie’s uniqueness.
Seriously, foreign CG animated movies do not have to be the same old boring style when we are seeing more animation studios embracing more unique concepts and animation styles, and thankfully, with this top-tier animation quality even for foreign CG animated movie standards, The Brothers Gruff Go to Splash World does that very well.
Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment
As if the writing and animation is still not enough to convince you to watch this movie, there is one more secret weapon Qvisten pulled out: the soundtrack.
Seriously, if there is one reason I would go back to watch this movie again, it would have to be the soundtrack, composed by DJ Momo. Honestly, every single music track is a banger, especially with its viral hit Badebussen (translation: Waterpark Bus) which dominated most of the Norwegian social media and Spotify when the movie was released theatrically in Norway in Christmas last year. In fact, given most of the reviews of this movie were about how great the soundtrack, I am happy to report that the soundtrack for The Brothers Gruff Go to Splash World is one of the best foreign CG animated movie soundtracks of all time.
As for my level of enjoyment, you had no idea how much I was having fun with this movie! Rather than sticking to the same formula as most European CG animated movies, even their own, Qvisten decided to throw the formula out of the window and produced this movie their own crazy way, resulting in an animated movie that is rip, roar and all around fun from start to finish. Easily one of the most entertaining animated movies I had seen in 2024 so far.
Overall Thoughts
Well, I had been waiting for some time to find the next great foreign CG animation studio, and while the journey was quite rough, I think I may have found the next great foreign CG animation studio, and its name is Qvisten Animation from Norway!
Despite its rather short run-time and a couple of characterisation issues, The Brothers Gruff Go to Splash World excel thanks to its hilarious and unhinged comedy that sometimes go off the rails, an entertaining script filled with some of my most favourite lines of the year and yet so well-grounded to prevent this movie from going too off-the-rails, mostly well-developed characters with a personality of their own, one of the most unique-feeling foreign CG animated movies ever crafted and perhaps one of the best foreign CG animated movie soundtracks of all time.
If you crave for a foreign CG animated movie that feels very different from the usual tired foreign CG animated movies that flood the theatrical animation scene, then why don’t you get your tickets to Splash World? This movie pretty much had everything I wanted in this movie, and then some.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Conclusion
Well, that was such an entertaining adventure I had! While one animated movie did not live up to its high expectations, the other two smashed those expectations in the best way possible, and they had reinvigorated my interest to cover more animated movies from across the world.
Since there are not much animated movies to cover, I will be taking a break from covering animated movies in time for the Eurovision week, but when I return, we will cover more animated movies from across the world again. Until next time, see you on the next adventure!
